The university will present honorary degrees to Atlanta businessman Thomas W. Dortch Jr., retired professional golfer Renee Powell and Jeanette L. Brown, a senior administrator in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The commencement speaker will be John S. Wilson, executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Appointed by U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan in 2009, Wilson works with an advisory panel to President Obama and serves as liaison between the White House and the nation’s historically black institutions.

Wilson taught at Harvard, worked as a fundraiser for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and most recently was a senior administrator at George Washington University.

A Morgan State University alumna, Brown moved to the Washington, D.C., area, where she has steadily climbed the career ladder as a federal civil servant over the past three decades. Brown is director of the EPA’s Office of Small Business Programs. She also holds a master of divinity degree and is an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Powell is a women’s sports pioneer. She is the second African-American to play on the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour and has been an ambassador for the sport much of her life. She is the head golfing professional at Clearview Golf Club, a historic course her father built near Canton, Ohio, and where she learned to play.

Dortch is chairman and chief executive officer of TWD Inc., a business development, public relations and fundraising firm in Atlanta, Ga., where he has worked four decades as an advocate for the disenfranchised in his community. He led the 100 Black Men of America during a period of unprecedented organizational growth when chapters were established in the Caribbean and Africa. Dortch was an advisor for 16 years to former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga.

Commencement guests are encouraged to be seated 30 minutes prior to the start of the student and faculty processional at 10 a.m. In keeping with tradition, the university’s Concert Choir and Wind Ensemble will perform.